On Tuesday P & I went to the Ideal Home Exhibition for which we had free tickets. In a way it was a very sobering experience. When we've been previously it's been really crowded with long queues for everything but this time it was so quiet. We didn't have to queue for the show homes we just went in. Hardly anybody seemed to be spending any money, a lot of the stallholders were standing around doing nothing & apparently some of the big firms had already given up & gone. It just really brought the recession home to us.
Last time we went I got dragged in for a makeover & they put this anti-wrinkle stuff on my face which felt really uncomfortable all day. As well they kept saying 'You look so much better now!' & even calling over complete strangers & saying 'Doesn't she look better!' This was a bit disconcerting as I hadn't thought I was all that wrinkled to start with. This time I kept saying to myself 'No make-over, no make-over...' but being something of a sitting target I ended up being dusted with a 'super-all-in-one-make-up-mineral-powder'. P said this gave me a healthy glow, personally I think it made me a bit orange. Anyway he bought me some. You can take a horse to water, though, but you can't make it drink, ie you can buy someone super-all-in-one-make-up-mineral-powder but you can't make them dust it all over their face.

J & I had a big fight today. This was because he said that because he was sitting on the sofa with his lunch on his lap he couldn't be expected to get up & turn off his X-box so I had to do it, whereas I expressed the opinion that he could put the plate down, get off his bottom & stop treating me like a servant. You can take whichever side you choose.
The other crisis today has concerned the ants. Hundreds of them crawling out from under our sofa!
We each have a rather different reaction to this.
P is really puzzling about how they got in seeing as the house is meant to be totally sealed (but ants are like small,right?).
J is hotly defending himself & claiming that the fizzy cola bottle sweets left in an open bag under the sofa are nothing to do with him. They must have belonged to his friends or else I must have been meant to throw them out & forgot. Yeah, right, whatever.
My reaction on the other hand is 'Eeek!!!' I spent this morning squashing ants with a rubber eraser & thinking 'I'm sure there was something else I meant to do with my life.'
If only I could think what it was.

I was at the church lunch yesterday & talking to someone who works with a charity that takes wheelchairs to poor parts of the world & he was saying how people come crawling or else have to be carried to get these wheelchairs & they're so grateful even though they don't have proper roads & will get bumped to bits. I just feel so ungrateful after my moan on Saturday about being in the wheelchair at social events. What would life be like if I didn't have one & didn't have a car & didn't have shopmobility? I just wouldn't be able to go out at all. Really I should be so thankful for my life, I've got so much.
Also at the church lunch I offered to take a baby so the girl holding her could eat some crisps. As soon as I picked her up she started whacking me on the nose! So I was saying through gritted teeth 'What a cute baby, ouch!' Good lunch though.

Yesterday after school there was a little reception to say goodbye to the headmaster who's leaving. It's a shame he's going cos he's very nice but he's going off to do charity work which is very worthwhile.
It was a nice reception but I was sitting in the wheelchair with J's schoolbag, lunch box, coat & PE kit piled on my lap & I spent several minutes stranded like that in the middle of the room with no-one to talk to & I just can't handle that sort of thing very well. Social occasions are difficult with the wheelchair, I can't just go over & talk to someone, I can't just sidle up & join in conversations, I'm nearly always at tummy (or bottom!) level with the people I'm talking to & most people seem really awkward like they don't know what to say to me. What I feel like shouting is 'Hey, I'm just a normal person!'
What is perhaps the worst is people who come up & start talking to the person with me while completely ignoring me & sometimes even bashing me with their shoulder bag. You wouldn't believe how many bags I've been bashed with.

J has (very reluctantly) gone off on a hike with the cubs. I'm sure he'll enjoy it though, well actually I'm not sure, he might enjoy it.

It's nice & sunny so I think I'm going to sit outside.

J woke up in seriously happy mood this morning. Is this because it's the last day of term I wonder? He was sitting on my bed cheerfully chatting about the game of cricket they had at school yesterday. I had agreed to take Mavis to the doctors straight after school so it was a bit of a rush. Now she's sitting in our kitchen because I'm taking her to the dentist later. She is desperate to help us tidy up so I gave her a pile of books & CDs to dust. I hate dusting books, I just don't like the feel of dusty books.
It's really strange because some of us have suggested having an Easter breakfast after the prayer rooms finish on Easter Sunday & hardly anyone seems to remember that we had a breakfast last Easter Sunday. I've just been saying to P & Mavis that we had toast & fruit & it was snowing & the children were outside playing snowballs & got really wet & they're just looking at me blankly. I just read out my blog from last Easter to them & they said 'If you say we had a breakfast then we must have done.' P says even the minister doesn't remember! And I think I'm the one who's memory is going.

P went to help at cubs on Monday, teaching them how to use a map & compass. He came home really cheerful because he'd managed to keep their attention for the whole hour and a half & they all seemed to be enjoying it. With our cub pack that's no mean feat.
He was out at a goodbye meal for the headmaster who's leaving on Tuesday & had to have yesterday off to recover. He just can't take the pace. The good thing was that he put together a set of shelves which are temporarily in the living room & also put up a big shelf in our bedroom. It's so exciting having shelves. The cupboards & shelves in J's room are looking good as well. I can foresee the day when all our books are neatly stacked & I can have photos on display again.
The church is having open 'prayer rooms' over Easter & I've been roped in to help. We're trying to make some displays to do with the passion. I said I'd type out some Bible verses on the computer & also make a crown of thorns. The trouble is while we've got plenty of briars I'm not sure how to make them into a crown. P says it's no problem & he'll do it, which is good. Otherwise I can imagine I'd have a lot of scratches.

I'm going to have a bath & put some things on my shelves.

There are some people in my life I'm just so thankful for. One of them is P who has put up with such a lot over the years. One of the things that makes me feel bad about this osteoporosis thing is that it's just one more thing for him to deal with but he's been so good about it even though he can't even hug me hard now in case it breaks a bone. He's had a talk with J as well & explained to him that using Mum's legs as a trampoline is now not a good idea.
I'm really grateful for Becky as well because when I came out of the doctors on Monday I felt I just couldn't go home & cry on my own & I went round her house & literally cried on her shoulder. When she came to the coffee morning yesterday she'd got me some pink roses. She's so nice.
Thank you to the friend who phoned me up yesterday as well, it was really good of you & nice to have a chat.
I phoned the National Osteoporosis Society helpline yesterday & they were quite helpful & said most people who use wheelchairs will end up with some osteoporosis in their spine (but why has no-one ever warned me?) but the drug I'm on will reduce my risk of a fracture by 50% which is quite good really. They're going to send me an information pack as well & said phone them anytime I've got a question.
So anyway I'm feeling a lot more positive about it all, although when I told somebody at church about it last night & somebody else piped up 'Oh, there's nothing they can do about that, your spine will just crumble' it didn't really help.
Never mind, God's looking after me, I know I'm going to be alright & really it's a good job I did break my rib & found about it before I broke something worse.